Saturday, May 24, 2008

Mahabir, Myagdi and Myself

Being related to the eastern part of Nepal, I hardly got any opportunity to visit the western parts. I heard and read many things about Palpa, Baglung, Manang, Mustang, Myagdi and other beautiful places of my own beautiful country but never got any chance to get indulged in the beauty of those places. I thought those places as beautiful but undeveloped places of Nepal. I used to ask many things to my classmates from Jumla and Accham about the infrastructures in their places.I used to think, how they could live in such a place where they could not watch television and read books from all over the world.

In 2007, Dr. Mahabir Pun from Myagdi won Roman Magasaysay Award for community leadership. He was “recognized for his innovative application of wireless computer technology in Nepal, bringing progress to remote mountain areas by connecting his village to the global village”.I was proud of Dr. Pun to heard this news but I was very much surprised too. Being a proud Nepali, I did not even know about the developments in Nepal.I was ashamed of myself at that time and very much eager to know more about Myagdi. Previously, I wanted to visit the place because of its natural beauty and after knowing about Dr. Pun, I wanted to visit Myagdi to see the technological advancement in the inaccessible villages.

Dr. Pun has now expanded the wireless networks all over twelve villages of Myagdi. Teachers in one school of Myagdi, teach students of another school.People of Myagdi consult with doctors of Pokhara using tele-conferencing. These things are not so easy for Nepal where the rate of development is very low but Dr. Pun has turned impossible to possible. He has proved that we can spread the light of technology all over Nepal. We can ornate the beauty of Nepal by the glitters of technological development. Nepal is indeed a beautiful country; we can enhance the beauty by developing each and every part and making the basic needs like education, health and safety accessible to all the Nepalese people.

Now, I am studying in a university of USA. Unfortunately, I did not get chance to visit Myagdi but my eagerness to visit villages of Myagdi is increasing. I want to see the villagers of my country taking online instructions from their doctors; I want to see the small scale businessmen dealing with their foreigner clients. I want to meet the role model Dr. Mahabir Pun and thank him for giving us a new direction, new hope and new idea for the development of the nation. I think my thirst will be quenched only after I visit there.